Two African American men have filed a discrimination lawsuit against the producers of ABC's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.
Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson are reportedly set to file a class-action suit in federal court against claiming that the ABC dating shows intentionally exclude people of color.
The men, both football players who apparently auditioned for The Bachelor at some point, are claiming that, in the 10 years the shows have been on the air, which include a combined 23 seasons, neither has ever featured a person of color in a central role.
According to Wikipedia, "The Bachelor is an American reality television dating game show debuting in 2002. For all seasons, the show is hosted by veteran television personality, one-time game show host and news anchor Chris Harrison. There are two related series: The Bachelorette (which focuses on a woman searching for a husband) and Bachelor Pad (which includes past contestants of the shows vying for money)."
The Bachelor series revolves around a single bachelor (deemed eligible) and a pool of romantic interests (typically 25), which could include a potential wife for the bachelor. "The conflicts in the series, both internal and external, stem from the elimination-style format of the show," as stated on Wikipedia.
"Early in the season, the bachelor goes on large group dates with the women, with the majority of women eliminated during rose ceremonies. As the season progresses, women are also eliminated on one-on-one dates and on elimination two-on-one dates. The process culminates with hometown visits to the families of the final four women, overnight dates at exotic locations with the final three women, and interaction with the bachelor's family and the final two women. In many cases, the bachelor proposes to his final selection."
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to properly cite language that was originally used without attribution to Wikipedia. We apologize to our readers for this violation of our basic editorial standards. Mic has put in place new mechanisms, including plagiarism detection software, to ensure that this does not happen in the future.
